Nikita Sokolov
A Russian swordsman played by Reed Peck-Kriss in The Five Moons of Japan. You are the warrior also known as the Ice Swordsman recruited by Susano during his campaign through Scandinavia. Born in a small, isolated village in Siberia, you had very little in the way of human contact aside from the other few dozen villagers. When you were 6 years old, a massive blizzard swept through the village, destroying most of the structures and killing most of the people. The survivors decided to take what they could and find another village, leaving behind what they could not afford to take with them. Being a small child, you were deemed a "burden" and were abandoned by your own father. Your mother, however, stayed behind with you. She was a very strange creature named Hebi the Snake who called herself a Water kami, a humanoid entity from a place across the sea called Nippon where there was no sun. After the rest of the village left, she started training you to fight. First, she developed your ability to manipulate water to the point where you could manipulate ice and snow (in Nippon terms, you are a half-mortal). Then, she had you forge an ice sword from permafrost. The two of you trained and sparred every day until you were 19 and Hebi explained her true motives. In truth, she did not view you as a son, but as a "project." She had been exiled from Nippon after being found guilty of inciting mutiny and killing a leader there. She had wanted revenge and decided to venture far away to develop a "weapon" with which to achieve it. So, she had come to Siberia and mated with a mortal tribesman. When she had deemed that you were old enough, she had summoned the blizzard that drove the rest of the tribe away so she could raise you into a war machine in solitude. Now, she knew that she was dying and wished to pass on the knowledge of your "true purpose" to you before she Faded. Minutes later, she was gone, and you were in shock. You had always felt bitterness in your heart, but you had never dreamed that it had all been intentional. Not knowing what else to do with your life, you set out to find and exact revenge upon the people of Nippon. Unfortunately, you went in the wrong direction, heading directly West instead of East. Nearly a year later, you finally reached the coastal land of Balt and encountered a Viking named Bluebeard. He was about to sail to Nippon himself to search for the gods and you insisted that he take you with him, saying that you had unfinished business there. He admired your spirit and agreed to take you aboard. The day after you set sail, you encountered a violent storm that destroyed Bluebeard's ship. The causer of the storm, Nippon's own storm god Susano, saw you two still alive amongst the driftwood and brought you to land. He explained that he had been watching the two of you for a while and had decided to test you. Apparently, both of you passed and were recruited to his unit, the Order of the Sea Serpent, which was set to return to Nippon to overthrow their current gods. Naturally, you found this most appropriate for you and joined without a second thought. You are the only member of Susano's party who could be classified in either the Order or the Maho-Reiji Guild, as you can use magic as well as a sword. Even though Hebi was a Water kami, you choose to just use Ice as your element now. Over the past 4 years, Bluebeard has become your best friend and Sir Deen Gainax has insisted on keeping you as an involuntary protégé. Category:Characters Category:The Five Moons of Japan